This document outlines the 10 principles that drive the for-impact culture at Possible, a global health organization. The principles emphasize putting patients first, embracing challenges with grit, treating efficiency as important, thinking big but executing focused, building simple systems, challenging conventional thinking with data, prioritizing design for dignity, being transparent, balancing intensity with support, and believing in proving what is possible. The culture aims to get remarkable results for patients by attracting remarkable people through these principles.

1. OUR FOR-IMPACT CULTURE CODE

2. WHY FOR-IMPACT?

3. “Non-profit” is a legal
structure, not a way of
doing things.
And we don’t
believe that we
should define
ourselves in the
negative.

4. Instead, we exist to create
IMPACT.
Hence, this is our for-impact culture.

5. In everything we do,
we believe in proving it’s
possible to deliver high-quality,
low-cost health care to the
world’s poorest people.

6. Proving possibility requires
REMARKABLE results.

7. DEF: REMARKABLE
Worthy of remark; striking.

8. The driving force
behind our for-impact
culture is to get
REMARKABLE
results for our patients.

9. WHY CARE ABOUT CULTURE?

10. Culture IS strategy.
—Jim Collins

11. Great teams bring the same
entrepreneurial energy to
improving their culture as they
do to improving their product.

12. We want to build
the best global
health organization
in the world.

13. To do that, we need a culture
where remarkable people
produce remarkable results.
People & results.
That’s what makes a
great organization
people love and
invest in.

14. Here are the
10 PRINCIPLES
that drive our for-impact culture.

15. POSSIBLE’S FOR-IMPACT CULTURE CODE
1. We put our patients first.
2. We embrace challenge with grit.
3. We treat efficiency as a moral must.
4. We think big.
5. We build simple.
6. We challenge conventional thinking.
7. We realize great design creates dignity.
8. We are transparent until it hurts.
9. We balance professional intensity with personal support.
10. We believe everything is impossible, until it isn’t.

16. 1
We put our patients first.

17. Our #1 rule:
SOLVE FOR THE PATIENT.

18. In every patient, we aim to
see the possibilities we see in
those we love.

19. The dignity and
opportunity of our
patients are far more
important than our own
egos or who gets credit.
Favor the patient’s
interest above the team’s.
Favor the team’s interest
above your own.

20. 2
We embrace challenge with grit.

21. We are obligated to
the battle, but not
entitled to its fruits.
—Bhagavad Gita

22. If building effective
healthcare systems
for the poor were
easy, everyone
would do it. We do
this work
PRECISELY
because it is labeled
as “impossible”
by many.

23. We expect failure and
tremendous degrees of adversity.
GRIT is what we deploy to get
remarkable results anyway.

24. DEF: GRIT
Indomitable spirit;
passion and
perseverance for
long-term goals

25. The only thing that I see that is distinctly
different about me is I’m not afraid to die on
a treadmill. I will not be outworked, period.
You might have more talent than me, you
might be smarter than me, you might be
sexier than me, you might be all of those
things--you got it on me in nine categories.
But if we get on the treadmill together,
there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or
I’m going to die. It’s really that simple.
—Will Smith

26. We seek out people with grit
because we are building a
FORMIDABLE team.

27. DEF: FORMIDABLE
The kind of team who “seems
like they’ll get what they
want, regardless of whatever
obstacles are in the way.”
*h/t to Paul Graham for this definition

28. 3
We treat efficiency as a moral must.

29. When your outcome is impact,
TIME
is a terrible thing to waste.

30. And when you’re working
in the world’s most
challenging environments
under constant uncertainty,
the way to maximize
learning is to minimize the
time to try things.

31. It’s everyone’s job to turn
time into resources and
possibility for our patients.

32. We are obsessed with
using simple tools to
shrink the time we
spend on “work about
work”. There is a
CRITICALand
constant push
towards making our
individual and team
workflows as efficient
as possible.

33. 4
We think big.

34. Lions can catch, kill, and eat mice, but they will die
doing so because it’s a calorie negative endeavor.
So instead they hunt antelopes.

35. Like lions, we can’t afford to
hunt mice.
Nearly 1 billion
people around the
world lack access
to high-quality
health care.

36. Thinking
BIG
is balanced by focused execution.

37. But it’s dishonest and leads
to low-quality impact.
Spreading resources
thin to appear big is
enticing and common
in impact work.

38. Instead, we set goals
that are big enough to
matter and small
enough to achieve.

39. 5
We build simple.

40. Complexity is easy.
Simplicity is hard.
People ignore complexity.
People enjoy simplicity.
Complexity makes work feel like a burden.
Simplicity makes work feel like progress.

41. Our goal is to minimize
complexity as we grow.
That is really hard to do.

42. But otherwise, complexity
and bureaucracy flourish,
great people leave, and
results suffer.

43. 6
We challenge conventional thinking.

44. Most conventional
“wisdom” says the poor
can’t have high-quality,
low-cost health care.

45. Is this the beginning of a
conversation about getting
health care to the poor or the
end of one?
—Dr. Paul Farmer
When confronted with that “wisdom,” we should always ask:

46. When challenging convention:
Don’t be angry.
Don’t be arrogant.
DO demand data to justify
conventional wisdom.

47. If data doesn’t exist, solve for the
patient and prove possibility
with data. It’s our job to solve for
THE PATIENT
and win debates with data—
not create enemies based on opinion.

48. 7
We realize great design creates dignity.

49. Everything we build,
from a hospital to a
business card, has real
implications for the
DIGNITY
of our patients and
the effectiveness of
our impact.

50. Great design isn’t a luxury—
it’s a powerful and real
priority in everything we do.

51. Design isn’t just the way something
looks. It’s the whole thing, the way
something actually works, on so many
different levels. Ultimately, of course,
design defines so much of our
experience. I think there’s a profound
and enduring beauty in simplicity, in
clarity, in efficiency. It’s about bringing
order to complexity.
—Jonathan Ives

52. 8
We are transparent until it hurts.

53. —Louis Brandeis
Sunlight is the best
disinfectant.

54. At the core, we believe in
transparency because it’s
an accountability
guarantee against our own
human frailties.

55. We believe it’s most
important to be
TRANSPARENT
about our impact
data, finances and
failures.

56. We also work to build in
transparency as a default
state in our systems.
A few examples:

57. We publish quarterly impact reports openly
covering all areas of the organization.
We use Asana so team members can see
everything happening across the organization.
Our strategy, areas of responsibility, milestones,
and board minutes are open within the team.

58. 9
We balance professional intensity with personal support.

59. —Netflix
We’re a team, not a family.
We hire, develop and cut
smartly so we have stars in
every position.

60. Solving one of the
world’s most
challenging problems
requires intense
commitment.
We are supportive
AND intense.
But when push comes to
shove, we are intense.

61. Yet our leaders constantly remind
themselves to be professionally
uncompromising and personally
supportive.
We only select leaders
who are “givers”—people
who are always looking
to add value to their
teammates’ lives inside
and outside of work.

62. A few ways we are personally supportive:

63. We use our networks to find world-class
mentors for team members.
We use a reciprocity listserve so anyone can
ask for support inside or outside of work.
We let people own their 1 on 1 meetings with
their managers so they can cover their needs.

64. We believe everything is impossible, until it isn’t.

65. We go to work every day
determined to create a
better world—to expand
humanity’s belief about
what’s possible.

66. Hope is the belief in the
plausibility of the possible as
opposed to the necessity of
the probable.
—Maimonides

67. In our team,
HOPE
isn’t a fluffy, soft, or naïve concept.

68. We believe in a hard-edged
hope—one created when
possibility is earned through
execution against all odds.

69. Do we sound like your kind of people?

70. Join us to prove possibility.

71. Want to share something with us?

72. Thanks to the many exceptional teams and individuals who influence our evolving
for-impact culture. We recommend reading their work for more insights.
asana.com hubspot.com netflix.com
managementcenter.org pih.org forimpact.org

73. CONTACT US
OUR OFFICES
USA
17 W. 17th Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10011
NEPAL
Badelgada, Ridikot-2
Achham, Nepal
GENERAL INQUIRIES
answers@possiblehealth.org
DONATIONS
donations@possiblehealth.org
PRESS
media@possibleheatlh.org